The American Apparel & Footwear Association (AAFA) . the national trade association of the apparel, footwear, and sewn products industries . hereby expresses its strong support for a full and immediate ban on U.S. textiles, apparel and footwear imports from Burma and strongly encourages the U.S. government to:

. Impose an outright ban on U.S. imports of textiles, apparel and footwear from Burma;

. Maintain this ban until Burma demonstrates that it recognizes, respects, and enforces basic human and labor rights for its own citizens; and

. Continue both unilaterally and through multilateral organizations to exert diplomatic, economic, and political pressure on Burma to recognize, respect, and enforce basic human rights for its own citizens, including support of the Burma resolution currently being considered by the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

The AAFA supports a U.S. ban on Burmese textiles, apparel and footwear because Burma has:

. Consistently rejected international demands to stop government sanctioned forced and child labor practices against its own people;

. According to the U.S. government's 2002 Country Report on Human Rights Practices on Burma, "...continued to restrict worker rights, ban unions, and used forced labor for public works and for the support of military garrisons. Other forced labor, including forced child labor remained a serious problem, despite recent ordinances outlawing the practice;" and

. Repeatedly failed to comply with internationally recognized conventions on labor, including forced and child labor. Due to its "widespread and systematic" use of forced labor, the International Labor Organization (ILO) in 2000, for the first time in its history, called on all ILO members to impose sanctions on Burma.

AAFA, through its mission statement & trade policy:

. .Promotes best practices to ensure that goods are produced in a socially responsible manner,. by:

- .Encouraging AAFA members to operate under programs that foster socially responsible production practices compliant with applicable labor and environmental laws and regulations;

- Encouraging the U.S., other governments and foreign trade associations to recognize and support programs that have been designed to achieve these goals; and

- Pursuing policies that encourage development of human rights and democratic values in countries in which AAFA members conduct business and discourage trade with countries that promote or support terrorism;.

. Strongly supports the textile, apparel and footwear industries' use of independent and effective social responsibility programs such as the Worldwide Responsible Apparel Production (WRAP) factory certification program;

. Applauds and supports the efforts of AAFA member companies that have already imposed bans on U.S. imports of Burmese textiles, apparel and footwear for their own firms;

. Recognizes and applauds the efforts of numerous U.S. and international governmental and non-governmental organizations to force Burma to respect the basic human rights of its citizens.

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